When I was a little girl there was one dish that my stepmother would make that I absolutely loved and would beg her to make over and over again....sadly, she very rarely made it. Chicken and Dumplings. It was the ultimate comfort food for me and it made me feel cozy and homey. By the time I grew up and was on my own, I had pretty much given up on having it anymore.
Several years ago, a friend of mine shared her recipe with me and when I made it I was transported back to that feeling of warmth and homeliness and I was so pleased that I could, now, make this ultimate comfort food for my family. As a matter of fact, I make chicken and dumplings at least twice a year.
I recently came across a crockpot recipe that I thought would be worth trying and so I did. I was not pleased with the first outcome and while I liked the second one, there were certain problems with it that have made me realize that nothing beats the original.
So...first let me tell you what I normally do:
Chicken and Dumplings, The Original
Ingredients:
a whole cut-up chicken
couple stalks of celery, sliced
small onion, diced
plenty of salt and pepper
water
dry biscuit mix (usually milk is needed for this)
seasoning of your choice for biscuit mix (I usually use garlic salt and pepper)
Take the whole cut-up chicken and put in a deep stock pot. Put in onions and celery. Generously put in salt (kosher works well) and pepper and cover with water. Bring from cold water to a slow boil to slowly bring out the flavors. Let boil for about 20 minutes.
When the 20 minutes are up, take the chicken out, but keep the water simmering. Take a piece of chicken and remove the skin and discard. Shred the chicken off the bone, making sure no bone pieces are left on. Put shredded chicken in the pot and repeat with each piece until done. At this point, I usually give the liquid (which likely looks unappetizing, oily and yellow with floating stuff...this is GOOD) a quick taste to see if I need to add more salt and pepper (which I always do). Let this simmer for about 20 minutes.
Prepare your biscuit mix according to package directions. I usually buy the cheap 45 cent packages and I use 2. Add seasoning to the mix to give your dumplings more flavor. Drop by the spoonful into the pot and cover, letting it simmer for about 10-15 minutes.
You can serve right away, but I have learned that the longer it sits, the better it gets. I will often prepare this at lunch time...by dinner, it is just about perfect. The next day, it will be even better...and if you buy an extra biscuit package, you can bring your leftover soup up to a simmer, prepare more dumplings and drop those in. Your soup will be thicker the next day, but if your kids (and husband) are like mine (let's face it, I'm just as bad), the dumplings were all likely eaten the night before.
Now, the crockpot version: It is very similar to the above recipe, except you put chicken breasts (boneless, skinless) in the crockpot. Because you are not using a whole chicken with skin and bone, you need to use a chicken broth. Also, the crockpot recipes I have seen call for using canned biscuits (YUCK) and so you lose the thickening effect, so they say to add in a can of cream of chicken soup. I tried this as written and was dissatisfied with the lack of flavor, thickness and the taste of canned biscuits.
So, I took my above recipe and made it in the crockpot instead...letting the whole cut-up chicken cook all day on low. I felt that I needed to add that can of cream of chicken soup by the way everything was working....I turned the temperature up to high to cook the dumplings, but it still took a long time to cook. A BIG disadvantage to this, though, was the next day. I would have had to dump the soup into a pot to add more dumplings because I was certainly not going to go through a long crockpot process....so I ended up NOT adding more so leftovers were severely lacking in dumplings. It was just as messy as doing it in a pot since I still had to take off skin and bones.
I have seen recipes on pinterest where they make these pretty cutout dumplings, but I have to say that I like the gloopy, spoon dropped dumplings. They add so much flavor and thickness to the soup.
I absolutely LOVE my crockpot. Just about everything I make in it turns out great. The second time I made C&D, I was satisfied with the results, but I just feel that the original way makes more sense and just tastes better. BUT, if you are in the mood for it, but lack the time....than please give the crockpot recipe a try.
So....there is my take on Chicken and Dumplings.
Several years ago, a friend of mine shared her recipe with me and when I made it I was transported back to that feeling of warmth and homeliness and I was so pleased that I could, now, make this ultimate comfort food for my family. As a matter of fact, I make chicken and dumplings at least twice a year.
I recently came across a crockpot recipe that I thought would be worth trying and so I did. I was not pleased with the first outcome and while I liked the second one, there were certain problems with it that have made me realize that nothing beats the original.
So...first let me tell you what I normally do:
Chicken and Dumplings, The Original
Ingredients:
a whole cut-up chicken
couple stalks of celery, sliced
small onion, diced
plenty of salt and pepper
water
dry biscuit mix (usually milk is needed for this)
seasoning of your choice for biscuit mix (I usually use garlic salt and pepper)
Take the whole cut-up chicken and put in a deep stock pot. Put in onions and celery. Generously put in salt (kosher works well) and pepper and cover with water. Bring from cold water to a slow boil to slowly bring out the flavors. Let boil for about 20 minutes.
When the 20 minutes are up, take the chicken out, but keep the water simmering. Take a piece of chicken and remove the skin and discard. Shred the chicken off the bone, making sure no bone pieces are left on. Put shredded chicken in the pot and repeat with each piece until done. At this point, I usually give the liquid (which likely looks unappetizing, oily and yellow with floating stuff...this is GOOD) a quick taste to see if I need to add more salt and pepper (which I always do). Let this simmer for about 20 minutes.
Prepare your biscuit mix according to package directions. I usually buy the cheap 45 cent packages and I use 2. Add seasoning to the mix to give your dumplings more flavor. Drop by the spoonful into the pot and cover, letting it simmer for about 10-15 minutes.
You can serve right away, but I have learned that the longer it sits, the better it gets. I will often prepare this at lunch time...by dinner, it is just about perfect. The next day, it will be even better...and if you buy an extra biscuit package, you can bring your leftover soup up to a simmer, prepare more dumplings and drop those in. Your soup will be thicker the next day, but if your kids (and husband) are like mine (let's face it, I'm just as bad), the dumplings were all likely eaten the night before.
Now, the crockpot version: It is very similar to the above recipe, except you put chicken breasts (boneless, skinless) in the crockpot. Because you are not using a whole chicken with skin and bone, you need to use a chicken broth. Also, the crockpot recipes I have seen call for using canned biscuits (YUCK) and so you lose the thickening effect, so they say to add in a can of cream of chicken soup. I tried this as written and was dissatisfied with the lack of flavor, thickness and the taste of canned biscuits.
So, I took my above recipe and made it in the crockpot instead...letting the whole cut-up chicken cook all day on low. I felt that I needed to add that can of cream of chicken soup by the way everything was working....I turned the temperature up to high to cook the dumplings, but it still took a long time to cook. A BIG disadvantage to this, though, was the next day. I would have had to dump the soup into a pot to add more dumplings because I was certainly not going to go through a long crockpot process....so I ended up NOT adding more so leftovers were severely lacking in dumplings. It was just as messy as doing it in a pot since I still had to take off skin and bones.
I have seen recipes on pinterest where they make these pretty cutout dumplings, but I have to say that I like the gloopy, spoon dropped dumplings. They add so much flavor and thickness to the soup.
I absolutely LOVE my crockpot. Just about everything I make in it turns out great. The second time I made C&D, I was satisfied with the results, but I just feel that the original way makes more sense and just tastes better. BUT, if you are in the mood for it, but lack the time....than please give the crockpot recipe a try.
So....there is my take on Chicken and Dumplings.
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